Disney Food. Dear Mickey...

[cruiserninja1]

I think a lot has to do with the server--how quick he/she is' date=' how long the food sits, etc. My memory of our food on the Fantasy was that it was quite good. On our B2B Magic cruises last summer, the first leg food was always cold and honestly, I don't think the server cared at all. We requested a different server for the second leg and the food improved tremendously. Our friends had some family members join the group for the second leg; they felt the service was slow. They couldn't believe it when we told them how much better it was on that second leg.

 

 

 

Odd too...first leg we were a group of 4. Second leg we were a group of 9. I would have thought the bigger group would have been more difficult.[/quote']

 

 

I agree! The servers have a lot to do with it ! On our Wonder cruise , everyone in our party seemed to eat at a different pace . Rakesh and Christina learned that pretty quickly and before we knew it ,they had us in a nice rhythm where everyone was done at the same time without food being cold or having it sit for too long .

[Loonbeam]

Honestly so far this has been our biggest complaint with Disney. Out of all cruises we have had ONE good server and no assistants (to be fair on the last cruise in October it was clear the poor guy was at the end of contract and completely burned out). Given the typically excellent service at other areas of the ship, this always surprises us.

 

I agree! The servers have a lot to do with it ! On our Wonder cruise , everyone in our party seemed to eat at a different pace . Rakesh and Christina learned that pretty quickly and before we knew it ,they had us in a nice rhythm where everyone was done at the same time without food being cold or having it sit for too long .

[moki'smommy]

Honestly so far this has been our biggest complaint with Disney. Out of all cruises we have had ONE good server and no assistants (to be fair on the last cruise in October it was clear the poor guy was at the end of contract and completely burned out). Given the typically excellent service at other areas of the ship, this always surprises us.

 

Wow...our "really good" servers have definitely outnumbered the "also rans," but we typically request one of our favorites. This has become far more difficult with 4 ships; while most stay on one ship, DCL can move them around as needed. Sometimes the really good ones are moved around to train others. We've also seen many old favorites leave the line.

 

We've also had situations with a really bad server but an assistant who more than made up for his shotcomings. On our next cruise, she was a server.

 

Our worst recent server was actually a Palo server who was working one cruise in MDR before he was needed back in Palo. He was AWFUL! He was definitely used to the pace and workload of Palo, and frankly didn't care. He knew he'd get his "standard" tips. What he didn't know is that we usually significantly increase the tips, but not his!

 

I'm seriously dismayed when we get on the ship and find that our favorites aren't around.

[Loonbeam]

We don't do Disney or any enough to have favorites, we cruise on average 1, maybe 2 times a year and rotate lines (for example, our next 3 years are Princess, Disney Adventures on Land, and Celebrity with MAYBE a 3 or 4 day squeezed in budget permitting).

 

And on the larger lines, that have 20 ships, its rare people stay on a ship more than a year. I actually think that's a detriment to Disney, with such a small fleet and less variation, its very easy to become complacent.

 

Disney also has one of the tougher serving staff schedules because of the all fixed dining and no evening buffet. For example, our assistant server on the Dream served breakfast one morning at 5 AM till 9, was at the pool sandwich shop 11-3 then did both dinner seatings, with costume changes in between. No wonder he was burned out. Add in the number of kids they have to serve?? (I swear our lead server breathed a massive sigh when he saw his section was all adults)

 

On some of the other lines, because of flexible dining, servers can be slotted into shorter shifts or buffets in the evening, which are a little less stressful then working all tradition sit down. On Princess, unless they express a preference, servers work 2 cruise blocks in Traditional then 2 in Anytime. Traditional is preferred because you get more extra tips, but the HW has to agree the server can handle the extra load.

 

Wow...our "really good" servers have definitely outnumbered the "also rans' date='" but we typically request one of our favorites. This has become far more difficult with 4 ships; while most stay on one ship, DCL can move them around as needed. Sometimes the really good ones are moved around to train others. We've also seen many old favorites leave the line.

 

We've also had situations with a really bad server but an assistant who more than made up for his shotcomings. On our next cruise, she was a server.

 

Our worst recent server was actually a Palo server who was working one cruise in MDR before he was needed back in Palo. He was AWFUL! He was definitely used to the pace and workload of Palo, and frankly didn't care. He knew he'd get his "standard" tips. What he didn't know is that we usually significantly increase the tips, but not his!

 

I'm seriously dismayed when we get on the ship and find that our favorites aren't around.[/quote']

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

About the coffee, my friend just got off NCL POA in Jan and she just took those green tea pills in the morning. The coffee wasn't drinkable at all. And this is coming from gals who have nightstands with coffeemakers. We literally don't get out of BED with a cup of coffee. But not even she was desperate enough to drink it.

 

Yegh. :eek:

[MizDaisy]

About the coffee, my friend just got off NCL POA in Jan and she just took those green tea pills in the morning. The coffee wasn't drinkable at all. And this is coming from gals who have nightstands with coffeemakers. We literally don't get out of BED with a cup of coffee. But not even she was desperate enough to drink it.

 

Yegh. :eek:

 

 

 

I read the same thing on the DIS about DCL's coffee...everyone says if you want GOOD coffee, you have to go buy it at the Cove Cafe.

[cruiserninja1]

Mocha at Triton's . it was extra but it was pretty good .

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I read the same thing on the DIS about DCL's coffee...everyone says if you want GOOD coffee, you have to go buy it at the Cove Cafe.

 

 

DCLs coffee IMHO is very good, I can't post here what I thought of RCIs coffee I complained to the beverage manager there, he asked me for my opinion and I gave it straight to him, there coffee is too cheap and designed to force you to buy better, DCLs is ok, it's passable, yes you can get better at Cove but you do not have to.

 

 

Sent from my iPad.

[Irene7]

DCLs coffee IMHO is very good, I can't post here what I thought of RCIs coffee I complained to the beverage manager there, he asked me for my opinion and I gave it straight to him, there coffee is too cheap and designed to force you to buy better, DCLs is ok, it's passable, yes you can get better at Cove but you do not have to.

 

 

Sent from my iPad.

 

I like their coffee.

[meatloafsfan]

I have found the coffee and the food in the MDRs on DCL, uneven.

 

Sometimes the coffee is terrible, sometimes drinkable and sometimes great.

 

Same with the MDRs. On our last Fantasy cruise (October 2013), I was disappointed in the food quality of the dining room. It was overall better than the food on our Dream cruises in October 2011 but wasn't as good overall as our Magic cruises in October 2010 or April 2012.

 

My favourite dish was the vegetable lasagna.

 

Before:

 

 

Recent:

 

 

Blah. The recent version is like what you'd buy at the store. Not the fresh, tasty, upscale version they used to serve. :(

 

And even within the same cruise, very uneven. Both my dad and I ordered the beef rib on Pirate night. His was fine (not much fat and only 2 bones) but mine was terrible (very fatty with 5 bones), by the time I got through picking off the fat and picking out the bones, there was a sad little pile of over cooked meat.

 

Of all the cruises I've taken, the October 2010 Disney Magic cruise comes out #1 for food but I'd place the rest of my Disney cruises firmly behind all of my Carnival cruises for food and on the same level or worse than my Royal cruises (Royal's lobster tails were much better than DCLs and a few other dishes were exceptional).

 

The MDR food on our DCL Dream cruises has to be hands down the worst of all of our cruises. The meat was served dry "for our protection" (according to our head server) and our server refused to allow me to order the plain chicken - I ended up just having my soup appetizer that night.

[specmat]

We sailed on the NCL Pride of America last summer

 

I thought the food was below average and the quality on the up charge restaurants were even worse

 

DCL far superior ;)

[Cali_Mum]

We were on the Fantasy earlier this month and I wouldn't say that the food was *bad*...some of it was just better than the rest. But isn't that one of the great things about being on a ship...if you don't like a dish, let them know and they will bring you something else...

 

I will say though that having room service MDR food was MUCH better than anything we actually had in the MDR...but this is more about them timing a meal for four in our room compared to timing a meal for 12 in the MDR...

 

And yes Remy costs money, but the dinner and brunch that we had there were AMAZING...worth the price they charge for sure!